


foolish lover’s game

by inhobbok



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Babysitting, F/M, Pining, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Season/Series 03, Steve Harrington Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 05:28:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19986874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inhobbok/pseuds/inhobbok
Summary: "It doesn’t help that Dustin keeps talking about the Snow Ball. It’s stupid, of course, but Steve can’t help but be a bit annoyed at the fact that this kid danced with Nancy and he didn’t. It sounds so much more immature when he thinks of it like that. Maybe he’s been spending too much time around children."





	foolish lover’s game

**Author's Note:**

> This is a rewrite of some scenes from a fic I wrote in 2017. I deleted that fic, but I still really like what I wrote so I cut out some of the plot, spliced some scenes together, and embellished. This is what I ended up with.

Steve Harrington would give anything to even just be friends with Nancy again. It’s as if they forgot everything, as if after all the monster-fighting and terror, their botched relationship never happened. 

He wants to talk to her—and he would, but he sees how happy she looks now and he can’t help but wonder if it’s only because she’s not with him anymore. He hasn’t spoken to her for a month now. Sure, he’s at her house a lot — the kids have grown attached to him, and he’s attached to the kids. But whether by coincidence or on purpose, Nancy is never there when he is. Or she shuts herself in her room because she has to study. And even if she does ever come home early, or go out into the kitchen, he always finds an excuse to leave. It’s better this way, he tells himself. 

It doesn’t help that Dustin keeps talking about the Snow Ball. It’s stupid, of course, but Steve can’t help but be a bit annoyed at the fact that this _kid_ danced with Nancy and he didn’t. It sounds so much more immature when he thinks of it like that. Maybe he’s been spending too much time around children. 

“Dustin, shut up,” Lucas calls across the room. “You’re not special because you danced with someone. Everyone here got a dance.” 

“Yeah, but you guys were all dancing with girls from our class.” Dustin shrugs with the air of someone who possesses great wisdom. “Girls this age are stupid.” 

Max coughs loudly and pointedly at this. Dustin’s hat falls off his head as if a sudden gust of wind pushed it off. He dives off the couch to retrieve it. 

“The hell...” Steve mutters. He turns around, and just as he suspected, Mike and the weirdo are laughing. 

How come nobody ever told him about that girl? Eleven, her name is. El, for short, and sometimes it’s Jane. But you can’t call her the weirdo, ever since she figured out what it meant and will get mad if you call her that. “Not weird,” she whispers when someone says it. “Cool.”

“Alright, guys, knock it off,” he says. “Some girls are stupid, you two aren’t. Also, El, don’t use your powers. That’s a Party Rule.” 

God, he sounds like his mother. The Party Rules are something that Dustin came up with first, and it sounded pretty dumb to Steve but the more time he spent hanging around five or six preteens the more he thought it was a good idea. So the Party Rules are as follows:

  1. You can’t break a promise.
  2. Decisions have to be made together.
  3. Eleven can’t use her powers against us.
  4. Friends don't lie.
  5. Always listen to Steve.



The last one was written by Steve himself, because if he doesn’t have at least some control then things will definitely turn to shit. Again.

“It’s actually not in contradiction to the Party Rules,” Mike says, jumping up. His awkward long limbs fly all over the place as he clambers over the others to fling his arm at the small blackboard where it’s all written. “See?” 

Steve squints. Next to Rule 3, someone has scrawled, “ _unless there’s a good reason._ ” Judging by the messy handwriting, Dustin wrote it. 

Steve sighs. Sometimes you can’t win. “Looks like you walked yourself into this one, buddy.” 

Dustin shrugs, because he knows he deserves it. Steve stands up and grabs the empty pizza box and the one underneath it. There’s also an empty bag of crisps, so he grabs that too. Eleven had a plate of Eggos — he swears the girl lives off of them — and he dumps it in the pizza box. These kids eat more and more every time. He hopes none of them get taller than him, because then _that_ will be hell. Mike is already growing at an alarming rate. 

He goes upstairs to find a bin. In stark contrast to the basement, the house is quiet. Mr and Mrs Wheeler are watching TV, their younger daughter lying asleep on the couch. And the elder daughter?

She’s in the kitchen, where the bin is.

Steve stops outside the kitchen, suddenly afraid. Well, that’s stupid. There’s nothing to be afraid of. He’s a normal person, and so is she. They can cross paths.He is _not_ going to go back into the basement with trash. He’s almost an adult. He can do it. There’s nothing to be afraid of.

“Hey, Nancy,” he says as he walks in, and then nearly turns right around and walks back out. Jonathan is also there, eating chips and halfway through telling a story. He stops as he sees Steve.

Steve wants nothing more to be gone from the face of the Earth at this moment, but he forces himself to keep walking. “Hi,” he adds to Jonathan.

“Hi,” Jonathan replies.

Nancy crosses her arms, then uncrosses them. “Are they—are you guys having fun?” She winces.

Steve’s face is burning. He drops the trash a bit too roughly, and one of the pizza boxes slips out of the bin onto the ground. He stoops down to pick it up. “Yeah, yeah, we’re having a good time.” He stands up again. “And—you two?”

“Good,” Jonathan says, maybe a bit too quickly. He’s looking at Steve weirdly.

“We’ve been studying,” says Nancy. She breaks eye contact.

Steve might just die on the spot right here. He remembers studying with Nancy. Studying. Is it irrational to be upset? Of course it is. He’s not upset, anyway. He isn’t. He’s perfectly alright.

He tries a smile, though it might come out more like a grimace. “See you on Monday, then,” he says. Why can’t he just be normal around her? It’s been two months.

As he descends to the basement, he realises something is wrong.

They’re quiet. And these kids are never quiet.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” That’s Lucas. Then Dustin, saying, “Hear me out. Trust me, I found it in the garden, just—”

“What the hell is going on?” Steve demands. He’s had enough of these kids and their antics. They are so lucky that he looks after them. Steve can’t imagine what they would get up to otherwise.

“Dustin has a new slug,” Max explains.

Steve’s heart stops. “No — no, no way,” Steve says. There is no way he’s putting up with this bullshit again. If these kids are his now, so be it — he’s going to protect them. 

Dustin looks at him, putting his hands up as if he’s attempting to calm him down. Whatever it is, it’s not working. “I know what you’re thinking. Yes, I have made mistakes —” 

“Mistakes,” Lucas says.

  
“Yes, Lucas, mistakes! _However_ , I have taken the time to identify it. It’s just a slug.” Dustin smiles. 

“That’s what you said about the last one!” Lucas shoots back.  
“I don’t like it,” Max says. 

Steve crosses his arms. “Listen, Dustin, you don’t have a good track record when it comes to this shit. Also: Party Rules. You can’t just decide to keep a slug. Decisions have to be made with the _whole_ group.” 

“Exactly!” Mike exclaims. “Exactly. Let’s kill it.”

“No! That’s not fair! It’s _my_ slug, not the Party’s.”

“Your right to keep a slug was revoked when you raised a baby Demogorgon!”

“Demodog!”

It’s getting heated, and Steve doesn’t really want to interfere lest they all turn on him. He takes a closer look at the little creature Dustin has brought. It looks normal enough. It doesn’t have any weird markings on its back, and it’s grey like an average slug. Still, Steve has had enough of this. 

“Alright, listen up,” he tells them, forcing them all to shut up. _Finally_ , he thinks. “Here’s what’s going to happen. Dustin, the slug is a no. New party rule: no weird stuff. At all.” 

“El’s weird,” Max points out. 

Eleven glares at her. Apparently, they don’t like each other, as Steve learned early on. Eleven doesn’t like the way Max — Steve doesn’t know. It’s kind of funny, because they would probably get along really well if they gave themselves the chance. Steve’s theory is that Eleven is jealous, because Max can go to school with the boys but she has to stay hidden in Hopper’s house.

The kids all campaigned so fiercely for him to let her visit even. Steve doesn’t know the specifics, but as far as he knows she’s going to be hidden for another year, at least, so even he joined the kids in bothering Hopper. So now every Friday, Hopper drops Eleven off at the Wheeler’s at 5:15 and picks her up at 9:00. She doesn’t talk much, but the boys really don’t care. Sometimes they teach her new things, other times she shows them weird stuff she can do with her mind. It freaks Steve out, so he tries to ignore it, which makes the whole situation odder really. 

“Eleven’s a Party member,” Mike tells her. “She doesn't count.” 

Eleven is looking between them with a confused expression on her face. Steve decides it’s not worth giving her the time to figure it out. 

Will coughs. Everyone turns to him. “The slug isn’t dangerous, though.” He pauses, looking at their faces to gauge their reactions. In his timid fashion, he continues, “Dustin should keep it. It’s cool. We could do — experiments or something.” 

Damn. Steve thought this kid would be the most scared but he’s actually defending it. He knows, now, why Jonathan was always so protective of him. He’s an actual good kid. Steve sighs. Will know better than any of them. Maybe this slug is just that: a slug.

Everyone else seems to share the same notion. If Will of all people is okay with it, then it’s fine. Will is the authority on these things. 

Mike and Lucas look at Eleven. “What do you think?” Mike asks. 

She shrugs. “Cool.” 

“The slug stays!” Dustin declares. 

“Fine,” Steve says, resigned. “But if it starts sprouting legs or-or growing, or whatever, I swear to God, I will kill it myself.” 

Dustin nods. “Fair enough. I call it Jabba.”

Everyone laughs, everyone except Steve and Eleven.

“What?” Steve asks.

Lucas shakes his head. “Man, you really need to watch Star Wars.” 

Of course, of course, it’s a reference to another damn movie, or video game, or whatever. He checks his watch. It’s 8:50. “Dustin, come on, let’s go,” he says, nodding his head towards the door.

“Ten minutes?”

“No, now.” He starts up the stairs and hopes the rest are following. 

When did he adopt all these little shits? Why is it that every week he drives around to Dustin’s house and brings him to the Wheeler’s, and for some reason stays there? Surely it’s not normal for a 17- year-old to hang around with kids like this all the time. He stopped hanging out with Tommy and the others because, well, they were assholes. And he thought maybe there could be Nancy, but she’s always with Jonathan and now he feels like there’s not much hope there. Once there had always been others, people lining up to get a chance to be friends with Steve Harrington, but they all seem much more interested in Billy. Goddamn, Steve hates that guy. And not just because Billy beat him up, and someone (Billy) spread the rumour (not a rumour) that he got his ass beaten to protect some kids. Now he’s Steve the Freak, taking Jonathan’s place as the Hawkins High School Weirdo. 

Steve ducks his head into the kitchen to see if Nancy is still there. Nancy and Jonathan. To see if they are still there. It’s only Nancy’s mom, though. “Have a good night, Mrs Wheeler,” Steve says with what he hopes is a charming smile. She smiles at him as she chats on the phone. 

The kids come up the stairs and pass through with a chorus of “Thanks, Mrs. Wheeler!” She waves goodbye and tells Max to say hello to her brother for her. Steve sees Max pretend to vomit as she turns away. Steve really doesn’t want to hear that story. They congregate in the lounge, saying goodbye and trading cards at the last minute. “Bye Mrs. Wheeler!” Dustin calls. He turns to Steve. “Alright, let’s go.” 

“Right,” Steve says. He opens the door, allows Dustin through, and closes it. There’s only a sliver of moon tonight, and it’s cold. Dustin shivers. They jog across the grass, the frost crackling underneath their feet. Dustin beats him to the car and clambers in through the driver’s seat to escape the cold. Steve swears. He leans on the car, waiting as Dustin tries to minimise the damage.

The front door opens again, and it's Will’s tiny figure walking out, waving at his friends who remain inside. _Jonathan?_ Steve wonders, then sees him walk out. Holding Nancy’s hand. Dustin is still halfway into the car, and Steve is left awkwardly standing outside. Of course Jonathan and Nancy had to come out right now. Half of him wishes he and Dustin left earlier and the other half feels like they’re right on time. 

When they reach Jonathan’s car, he kisses Nancy, and she smiles and hugs him goodbye. They exchange a few words. Steve shrinks into the car—surely Dustin is in by now—but finds himself blocked. Dustin sticks his head out the door.

“Nancy!” Dustin yells. 

She turns, and so does Steve. The kid is smiling and waving, and sure he looks kinda cute but the point is that he’s a piece of shit and should not have done that, because now Steve is caught in Nancy’s view, the very last and first place he wants to be. 

“Hey,” she grins. She sticks her head into the car and says something to Will. Steve is dimly aware that he’s still standing here like an idiot as Nancy quickly gives Jonathan one last peck. Jonathan waits until she’s safely inside, then climbs into his car. He pokes his head out the window. 

“You alright, Steve?” he calls. 

“Huh?” Steve turns. Jonathan is frowning at him, and Dustin is shivering behind him. “Right, yeah. I’m fine. I’m great. See you, Will. Jonathan.” He runs to his car and hopes he hasn’t made a fool of himself any more than he already has. 

The drive home is comfortable and practised. They’ve been doing this for a while now. Dustin and the kids invited Steve over one night, and Steve—well, Steve had nothing else to do. So he went to the Wheeler’s, and instead of going upstairs to Nancy’s room, he went down into the basement to learn how to play Dungeons and Dragons. And, surprisingly, it was a good night. Suddenly Steve was demoted from senior to eighth-grader—or maybe promoted from teenager to parent. Whatever it was, he was in their group, and now Friday nights feel vacant if he’s not spending it with them. Their Party is a far cry from the ones he’s used to.

Steve glances at Dustin. The kid is clutching the plastic container tightly, his fingers white. It’s odd, after everything that happened, and Steve can’t figure out why he would want it. “Why the hell did you get another slug?” he asks, after a few moments of silence.

“I swear, Jabba is just a normal slug!”

“Okay, sure. But — why?” 

Dustin looks down and picks at the seat. “He’s like Dart.” 

Steve frowns. “Isn’t that more of a reason to _not_ have it?” 

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But Dart was really cool, and we were friends, and I miss him. Jabba doesn't eat nougat, but he’s alright.” Dustin grins. “I checked and double-checked. One hundred percent a slug. And I swear that I’ll kill him if he gets weird. Which he won’t, because I checked.” 

“Mhm,” Steve murmurs. He turns onto a road bordered by trees, and opens a window to let the fresh air in.

It’s very quiet outside, as if the trees are soaking up all the sound. It's almost peaceful, but Steve can’t enjoy it. It’s cold, there’s maybe a bit of fog but he’s not sure if it’s just the dark. He doesn’t like that. He can’t stand fog, not since last month when he went out into the fog in that junkyard and almost _died_. 

It’s stupid, he knows, but as he drives towards Dustin’s house he drives slower, much slower, because he’s scared he’s going to miss something if he speeds past and then—he doesn’t want to think about any of that. 

He’s thinking of the time he and Dustin were in those tunnels, when the—the monsters came running at them and Steve thought it was the end. His first thought was _shit, I’m going to die_ but the second was _shit, I need to protect this kid_. Looking back, it was odd. He’d known Dustin for maybe a few days, if that. And still—after everything he messed up, maybe he felt like he needed to do something right for once. 

Well, he’s never thought of it like _that_ before. Why is his life turning into some kind of daytime TV plot? A redemption arc—well, maybe it’s not such a bad thing. He was an asshole, and maybe it just took another asshole for him to figure out his wrongs. _I was never as bad as Billy_ , he tells himself. But then, he did break Jonathan’s camera and provoked him into a fight and said some awful things. Jonathan beat him anyway — does that count as paying for his sins? He can't decide. 

Nancy would know, at least he thinks she would. She would be the authority on the subject — no, Jonathan would be. It was Jonathan he wronged, but he can’t just go and ask him. Jonathan probably still hates him anyway. Steve feels bad for it all, he really does. 

He really has to get everything off his chest, or it’s going to suffocate him.

“Alright. Here you are,” Steve says, turning into Dustin’s driveway. Just before Dustin gets out, he turns around to Steve. 

“Man, I’m sorry,” he says.

“What?”

“You’re probably mad at me. I get it,” the kid says. He shrugs. 

“The hell are you talking about?” Steve asks him. 

“You know, Nancy,” Dustin says reasonably, as if this is the most obvious thing in the world. “I get it. You love her. And you told me not to fall in love with girls — which I’m _really_ glad that you told me — but you loved Nancy and I’m — son of a bitch! Crap. I’m sorry I danced with her.” 

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up over it,” Steve says, because the last thing he wants is this kid on his conscience. Besides, he’s not mad. He’s not angry at all. He does not care that Dustin danced with Nancy. “I’m not — I don’t love her.” He laughs uncomfortably. “You go get all the girls you like.” 

Dustin frowns. “You just broke Party Rule 4. But hey, I won’t tell.” He holds out his fist and in Steve’s shock he performs their handshake with no further questions. Dustin runs out of the car and goes inside. Bemused, Steve pulls out onto the road and makes his way home. 

Steve Harrington is _not_ in love with Nancy Wheeler. He will not be lectured on this by some nerd kid whose only experience with romance is a stupid video game. He doesn’t love Nancy — sure, he’d love to talk to her again and sit next to her or maybe even hold her but that doesn’t mean he’s in love. 

“You love her,” Dustin had said.

_Bullshit_ , Steve thinks, but when he hears it in his head, it’s in Nancy’s voice. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! If you did, please leave kudos, comment, you know the usual. I'm considering making this a series, because I'd love to bring Robin into this and explore Steve's character a bit more.
> 
> (my tumblr is inhobbok.tumblr.com)


End file.
